Loot at ex judge’s house: Odisha Police zeroing in on city gang

The Commissionerate Police, which has been investigating the loot at former Odisha High Court Judge PK Mohanty’s Cuttack residence, has zeroed in on a Bhubaneswar based Gang after tracking the pattern of the loot.

This gang normally uses minimal force to tie down and threaten the family members without causing physical injury and make sure to take the victim’s motor vehicle while fleeing the scene after the loot.

The members of this gang were earlier arrested by Balianta Police Station and were released from Jharpada jail after serving a seven-year term about a year back. However, within a year of getting out of the jail, the dacoits have looted many houses in strikingly similar fashion from different places such as Mancheswar, Chandrashekharpur and Khandagiri in Bhubaneswar and another justice’s house in Cuttack.

All the members of this gang are on the run after both Bhubaneswar and Cuttack teams of Commissionerate Police started a massive manhunt following the PK Mohanty incident.

The cops are zeroing on this gang as apart from the similarity in tactics, the cap stolen from Justice Mohanty’s house was dumped in Rasulgarh in Bhubaneswar. Also, a member of this gang named Rao usually speaks in Telugu.

Another member who wore a suit and spoke in broken Hindi on the day of loot at Justice Mohanty’s house has been identified to be an Odia man, who earlier worked in the Indian Army. He is a native of Kakatpur area of Puri district and has over 25 cases of loot against him in different police stations of Puri, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

The cops are, however, taking no chances. Apart from this gang, they are also tracking over 70 gangs from every nook and corner of the state, including a gang from Barang.

Select officers of Commissionerate Police are touring jails in Jharpada, Choudwar, Brahmapur and other places in bordering areas with Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal to collect intelligence on gangs that were released within past four years.

The cops have requested for a list of marked robbers from Jharkhand Police and Brahmapur SP, as the dacoits who looted PK Mohanty’s residence were speaking in Hindi and Telugu.